


a not so quiet night (after all)

by WickedSong



Series: the sorceress and knight [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Bickering, F/M, Pre-Relationship, pre-KHI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29247675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedSong/pseuds/WickedSong
Summary: He breathed heavily; the adrenaline of the battle and the rapid beating of his heart replaced by tiredness. It appeared the area was cleared of the creatures; at least for now.“You can stand back up,” Leon said, as Rinoa continued to crouch in front of him.She lifted her arms first and looked up at him.“You’re sure they’re all gone?”“Do you think I’m trying to get you killed?”
Relationships: Cid & Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Cid & Rinoa Heartilly, Rinoa Heartilly & Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Rinoa Heartilly & Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartilly/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart
Series: the sorceress and knight [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1270202
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	a not so quiet night (after all)

**Author's Note:**

> -I'm back, again! I had a fresh burst of inspiration last night, so this is the first of three new parts that I want to write in the next couple of days (I've just finished my second out of three assignments for uni, and teacher training during a pandemic is Hard so I need to destress somehow), hopefully. This one is set after 'watchers of stars, protecters of worlds', so it might be worth a wee reread, but it is not compulsory - just to give an idea of where it's set in the timeline.
> 
> -I've wanted to write this scene for so long - since the first part of the series where it's referenced - so I'm glad I got there. A little short, but I'm hoping it is a case of quality over quantity, and that you all enjoy.

Traverse Town’s streets seemed to be quiet tonight. If he was more of an optimist, he might call it peaceful, but it only made Leon warier of the dangers that lurked in such silence.

All too aware of those threats, Leon adjusted his gunblade against his shoulder and continued his solitary patrol. If Cid found out, he would say the same thing he _always_ said. That some _‘sixteen-year-old kid_ ’ shouldn’t be patrolling the streets on his own, and especially not when the Heartless could appear at any moment. If Cid found out, Leon knew he’d be in trouble. At the thought Leon kicked the ground at his feet.

Cid wasn’t his father; Cid was his next-door neighbour, one of his parent’s best friends. Cid was the adult who’d managed to get him - and others - to safety and off-world before the darkness had taken over. Them, and no one else, it seemed. Leon clung to his gunblade tighter, to block out the memories. The more he thought about it, the more he itched for a fight. Cid would tell him off for that as well. It was likely Aerith would too.

Leon knew it wasn’t the answer, either, but it didn’t stop the fire that raged in his heart, nonetheless.

As he turned a sharp corner, carefully inspecting if the Heartless would swarm here (and almost _hoping_ they would, just for the thrill of the battle), Leon ruminated on the events of the past few months, the events that had led him and only a handful of other Radiant Garden residents to Traverse Town.

But he couldn’t think about it too much, when a shout from elsewhere caught him off guard, it was familiar, but not so much that Leon could tell who it was immediately. It was a girl; he could tell that much, though he knew for a fact, and was relieved, it wasn’t Aerith or Yuffie. When he followed the sound, he eventually found himself in the Third District, and the source. It was _her_.

Only a few nights ago he’d sat by her side, on top of the old clock tower and they’d discussed the stars in the sky, and the worlds they represented. On that night, Leon had felt what he later dismissed as false hope, when not even one had disappeared. On that night, Leon had been at a peace he hadn’t felt since the day his world fell.

Now, that same girl – _Rinoa_ , her name was _Rinoa_ \- was running from the Heartless, shooting projectiles from a pinwheel on her wrist, as she fled. Leon felt no hesitation as he jumped down from the bannister into the clearing that led to the hut Merlin had taken as his base and study. With a strike of the gunblade, a Heartless disappeared. Another followed as Leon found himself cutting through the horde with ease.

“What are you doing here?” asked Rinoa, as she helped him dispatch the shadows, with another round of projectiles. “At this time of-“

“I could ask you the same thing,” Leon replied. “Duck!”

Rinoa looked confused for only a minute but did as instructed, squatting down on the balls of her feet, and covering her head with her arms. It only took Leon a second to cut the Heartless down to size, hopefully back to the darkness where it belonged.

He breathed heavily; the adrenaline of the battle and the rapid beating of his heart replaced by tiredness. It appeared the area was cleared of the creatures; at least for now.

“You can stand back up,” Leon said, as Rinoa continued to crouch in front of him.

She lifted her arms first and looked up at him.

“You’re sure they’re all gone?”

“Do you think I’m trying to get you killed?”

Rinoa seemed to take this as a good enough answer, and slowly rose to her feet. As she did, she dusted off her black top, and matching shorts. She frowned slightly, at a rip in her light blue duster.

“This is going to take forever to fix,” she grumbled, but then she sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. “But I guess it’s better than being turned into a Heartless.”

She put hands on her hips and grinned up at him.

“Thanks for the help, Leon,” she said (and he was slightly surprised she remembered his name at all). “I owe you one.”

“Yeah, _you do_.”

Maybe he meant it to come out as abruptly as it did. Or maybe he didn’t. It really didn’t matter once the words had left his lips, and Rinoa narrowed her eyes at him.

“A ‘ _you’re welcome_ ’ would have been enough,” she retorted, folding her arms, and her smile slowly fading into something akin to a grimace. Leon thought it didn’t suit her.

“Well, I shouldn’t have had to come to your rescue anyway,” he argued, folding his arms too, in growing annoyance. “You’ve lived here _how long_ , but you don’t have your guard up? At this time of night?”

Rinoa looked taken aback by the outburst. Truthfully, Leon didn’t know where it came from either. The feelings made him uncomfortable when he thought about it.

“I didn’t need your help,” Rinoa said, bitterly. “I had it all under control. Besides, I know you’re not meant to be out at this time either, or on your own. You’re not part of the patrol squads yet.”

Her arms were now by her side. Somewhere, during this conversation her hands had clenched into fists, as she defiantly looked up at him.

“Whatever.”

Rinoa scoffed at the reply, and the wave of Leon’s hand, and said no more to him on the matter. She turned quickly and began to walk away from him. It took Leon a second to decide that he should walk back with her.

In silence they went; the only sound was of their boots against the pavement. If she wanted him to get lost, she didn’t say, and they ignored each other the whole way back anyway.

He told himself it would make no sense to save her from one Heartless attack only for her to find herself in another one. She was a decent enough fighter, but even ‘decent enough’ could get someone killed these days.

It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that he followed, telling himself he was escorting her back to the safety of the First District.

And if there was an annoying voice in his head, telling him it was a little more than that, then he ignored that too.

* * *

Leon wanted the ground to swallow him up when they arrived in the First District, and the first thing he saw was Cid, standing by the doors of the shop, looking as though he was about to launch into one of his famous rants.

“Great,” Leon heard Rinoa mutter, as the pair continued walking. Cid met them halfway.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” was the first thing he said, directed at Leon and Leon alone, seemingly ignoring that Rinoa was there, at all. “I’ve been lookin’ all over for your ass, and here I find you went out patrolling when I told you _not to_!”

“Cid-“

“Listen to me, kid,” Cid interrupted. “There’s a lot you don’t know, and a lot you still have to learn, and you ain’t gonna learn it if you end up in the ground!”

And now, Leon could see the anger melt away into genuine concern and worry. He hated when people worried about him, hated when he saw that mist cloud Cid’s eyes. He didn’t think he deserved it, if he was being honest, when he was too weak to save anyone else.

No matter how much Cid told him it wasn’t his fault, that there was nothing he could’ve done, it didn’t take that pain away at all.

“And you,” Cid said, turning to Rinoa, just as Leon found himself snapping out of his thoughts “I thought you were smarter than this, girl-“

“Cid, please,” Leon cut in, though Rinoa looked like she was willing to take the lecture. She looked more than surprised that Leon had said anything at all.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure _why_ he interrupted, at all.

“What?” Cid said, turning back to Leon. “What have _you_ got to say?”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Leon said. “It was mine. I was out patrolling, and I shouldn’t have been. I know. But don’t blame her.”

“No, no,” Rinoa said, waving her hands in front of her. “I got ambushed, and Leon saved me. If it wasn’t for him, I might’ve-“

Cid held a hand up, and Leon wondered if he was going to lecture them some more. Instead, the older man sighed, and shrugged. His other hand on his hip, Cid shook his head.

“Come on, Rinoa,” he said, quietly, and with a nod. “Let’s get you home.”

Leon felt a strange sense of relief flood his veins. He could take one of Cid’s lectures, he was used to them by now, but he didn’t feel Rinoa deserved one, especially when he’d already been so short with her earlier.

Even if she had given as good as she got right back.

“And you,” Cid said, with a knowing look towards Leon. “You can sort out the stock I didn’t get through tonight while I was looking for you. On you go, Squall.”

“It’s-“

“Leon, I know,” Cid said, with a dismissive shake of his head.

Rinoa looked very interested in this conversation. No doubt, Leon thought, she was remembering when she’d correctly addressed him by his real name, and he’d told her, curtly, that she was wrong.

But she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she turned to him, quickly, as Cid started to move ahead.

“Look, Leon” she said, with a sigh. “I meant what I said. Thanks for helping me. I’m sorry for-“

“You don’t have to apologise.”

Here, in the dimly lit streets of the First District, knowing they were both safe, it seemed irrelevant. He felt that same sense of peace that’d washed over him, only a few nights ago. The feeling only served to grow when Rinoa smiled at him, a smile that reached all the way to her brown eyes.

Leon found himself almost getting lost until he shook his head. He cleared his throat and hoped that Rinoa didn’t see his cheeks redden. If anyone asked him, later, he’d deny such a thing, anyway.

“I should have just said you’re welcome,” Leon admitted, with a half-hearted smile.

Rinoa laughed, unashamedly so. She looked down, as her shoulders shook. She covered her mouth, as she nodded at him, as the laughter left her lips.

She stopped, after a moment, and straightened herself. Leon couldn’t imagine what he’d said that was all _that_ funny.

But her laugh was-

Well, it was as pretty her smile, and she smiled at him now.

“Well, I guess I still owe you one,” she said, with a wink.

“Hey, hurry up!”

Cid’s shout from the other side of the square caught both of their attention, and without another word, Rinoa hurried away.

Leon couldn’t be sure, as he watched her go, if the stars in the sky remained intact tonight, just like before (and in all the chaos of this evening, he’d forgotten to tell her, like he thought he might the next time they met, that all the stars stayed in the sky a few nights ago), but a part of him felt that they had to. That nothing truly terrible could happen, if Rinoa was around.

With that smile, how could the world let it?

But he was brought back to reality, by the recognition that terrible things had happened – to his world, and her own, and that’s why they were both now here, in Traverse Town.

And maybe, just maybe they had more in common that he’d first dared to think.

**Author's Note:**

> -I can't guarantee I'll have those other two parts I've noted down ideas for any time soon (though I do hope I'll have a chance to write them), but I will give a little tease. The next part planned is post-'thinking of you wherever you are (if you come here, you'll find me', so the very first part of this little series, and brings in one of the KH OG characters. The one after that is post-hope beyond hope, but pre-the first part so a little in-between of what kind of adventures Leon got up to on his journey to find Rinoa...Hmm, I wonder...
> 
> -I tried my best with this part of the series to replicate the tense relationship Squall and Rinoa had at the beginning of FF8, because I think the opposites attract approach of their relationship is really fundamental, and I hope I've shown that here. I don't know when, or if, I'll revisit this time period in their burgeoning friendship (and eventual relationship) later, but it's a fun place to leave it for now, at least I think so.


End file.
